ADT-1 Google’s Android TV Developer’s Kit Details

Google announced Android TV a few days ago, and distributed ADT-1 hardware development kit to application developers during Google I/O. I could not find much details at the time, except it was powered by Nvidia Tegra processors. I’ve now noticed some developers have posted a few pictures and the device, Phandroid has posted the specifications, and I’ve found some interesting hardware limitations for Android TV decided by Google that kill some potential applications for the TV.

This Android L Android TV box looks tiny and comes with G1 Gamepad as demonstrated during Google I/O, that is powered by 2x AA rechargeable batteries, and well as a power adapter, and cables.

More pictures and short videos can be found on Zach Pfeffer G+ account, as well as on Reddit where you may want to go through the comments section for specifics. If you were not at Google I/O, and are an application developer, you can still apply for ADT-1 devkit online. There’s also an “ADT-1 FAQ” that’s mostly interesting / useful for people who already own the kit.

As I look for more details, I also went to Android TV developer’s page, especially the hardware features section, where the following features are said to be disabled in Android TV:

Hardware

Android feature descriptor

Camera

android.hardware.camera

GPS

android.hardware.location.gps

Microphone

android.hardware.microphone

Near Field Communications (NFC)

android.hardware.nfc

Telephony

android.hardware.telephony

Touchscreen

android.hardware.touchscreen

If you planned to use your Android TV Box and connect a USB webcam to use Skype or Google Hangout, or expected some Android L TV boxes with a built-in camera that can be placed on top of the TV, sorry, this won’t be possible because camera and microphone support are not available. The other features make sense, although for digital signage applications GPS, telephony, touchscreen, and NFC may also be useful, but I understand that’s not what Android TV is all about, and it’s focusing on the consumer market.